Blacet Hex Zone

jamb · Post by **jamb** » Wed Oct 10, 2012 9:03 am

Does anyone know of or have a nice video demo of the Blacet Hex Zone?

Cat-A-Tonic · Post by **Cat-A-Tonic** » Wed Oct 10, 2012 6:02 pm

It's a CV, gate sequencer with a programmable sequential switch.
It's good for stringing multiple sequences together to build songs.

What do you want to hear from it?

jamb · Post by **jamb** » Wed Oct 10, 2012 6:12 pm

just haven't used a sequencer and am curious about the programming on this one.

fracmonkey · Post by **fracmonkey** » Thu Oct 11, 2012 12:10 pm

The manual is online. The official part number is SS2800.
http://www.blacet.com/SS2800ManualBasic.pdf

solitaryzen · Post by **solitaryzen** » Fri Oct 12, 2012 12:05 am

It's a great sequencer with all the basic functions you would expect (except for knobs/sliders per step), and as Cat-A-Tonic said you have the ability to arrange a basic song structure by chaining 16 step patterns together. It has a clock divider, two CV outs, reset & gate in etc. The real unique feature of this sequencer though is when you utilise it as a sequential switch - individual in or out for each of the 16 steps, each step can be programmed to send/receive thru any of the 16 in/outs (or can be randomised). Certainly nothing else like it available in frac format, and maybe not in any other format. Incredibly intricate rhythms can be created by using both the sequencer & switch functions.

jamb · Post by **jamb** » Fri Oct 12, 2012 12:35 pm

awesome, thanks for that explanation, solitaryzen. cool that the 16 jacks can function dually as send/receive.

tIB · Post by **tIB** » Fri Oct 12, 2012 12:55 pm

^ its an incredibly cool thing, more as a programmable (semi random) sequential switch that sequencer. It was one of the two sequencers in my live set the other week, triggering/sequentially switching through the percussion side of things. I really love it, so much that I bought a second (and havent nanafied the rest of my frac rig).

jamb · Post by **jamb** » Fri Oct 12, 2012 1:26 pm

i have an octave cat that i've spent the last few months repairing and getting in tip-top shape, so i'm curious to see how this will work with that.

Ted2 · Post by **Ted2** » Mon Oct 22, 2012 2:12 pm

deciding whether i should get this or midi2cv converter-- i am leaning towards the hex, but midi would be so convenient!

oozitron · Post by **oozitron** » Fri Oct 26, 2012 7:05 pm

If you use the Clock In, does the Gate Time still work well?

Some sequencers have gate time settings, but they are only accurate to the nearest clock tick. So a 1/16 note clock input makes the gate time setting pretty much useless.

Also (along the same line), how does it handle very high Clock In speeds? I would use my MiniDoc to feed the HZone, and it has 96 ticks per quarter clock out. How would that work?

Drew

Cat-A-Tonic · Post by **Cat-A-Tonic** » Fri Oct 26, 2012 10:39 pm

There is a limit, but it can be clocked very fast;
Graphic Oscillator style.

I've never had any problems with the gate-width programming.
I think that is one of the HexZone's strong suits.
Gate-width per step FTW.

senecio · Post by **senecio** » Sat Mar 30, 2013 3:31 pm

Does anyone know if there is a factory reset on the Hex Zone that will clear all your stored sequences quickly?

fracmonkey · Post by **fracmonkey** » Sat Mar 30, 2013 5:39 pm

I don't see anything specific but try this, it's pretty quick.

Create an initializing sequence at 32. All notes to --, gate to 50%, etc.

Copy and paste that to any sequence you want to delete.

senecio · Post by **senecio** » Sat Mar 30, 2013 9:36 pm

Thanks, tried that out and it did go pretty fast!

vmgas · Post by **vmgas** » Sun Mar 31, 2013 12:03 pm

senecio wrote:Does anyone know if there is a factory reset on the Hex Zone that will clear all your stored sequences quickly?

you can also buy a few of these. pop your current one out and you have a fresh empty bank of sequences and you can keep your old ones http://www.digikey.com/product-detail/e ... ND/1631002

Tubeampguy · Post by **Tubeampguy** » Mon Apr 01, 2013 1:03 am

Removed!

Ted2 · Post by **Ted2** » Fri Apr 26, 2013 9:26 pm

hey guys,

Just got a working, finished Hex Zone today, and it's pretty sweet. Have a few questions about it though.

The little sequence thing only goes until the seventh step for some reason. how would one change this?

When you set the gate to Loop, what does that do?

What does "active switch" do? I am unfamiliar with the concept of sequential switches.

Thanks

fracmonkey · Post by **fracmonkey** » Sat Apr 27, 2013 11:39 am

The little sequence thing only goes until the seventh step for some reason. how would one change this?

When you set the gate to Loop, what does that do?

The gate is set to loop on the 8th step. Change the GW to something else to get a longer sequence. Looping justs jumps back to step one and repeats.

Ted2 · Post by **Ted2** » Sat Apr 27, 2013 12:48 pm

Oh, okay, makes sense haha

Thank you!

Tubeampguy · Post by **Tubeampguy** » Thu May 09, 2013 2:14 pm

senecio wrote:Does anyone know if there is a factory reset on the Hex Zone that will clear all your stored sequences quickly?

I don't consider it a factory reset, But here is a work around.

I copy a pattern higher up (say, seq 10 or 11) copy that and paste it to 1,2 or what ever seq you want to clear out (empty note/ gates at 50, etc) This whole thing takes a couple seconds, its second nature after you get used to doing it!

Also there is a clock divider on the clock O/P.
John really out did himself on this module!

The Hex Zone is the most intuitive and easy to use sequencer that I have ever used!

FRAC Frickintastic

MUFF WIGGLER

MUFF WIGGLER

Blacet Hex Zone

Blacet Hex Zone